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Stranger in a Strange Land

Book by Robert A. Heinlein · 50 quotes · Stranger In A Strange Land, Art, Men

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Stranger in a Strange Land Quotes

“The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people; I was saved, they were damned.... Our hymns were loaded with arrogance - self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty and what a high opinion he had of us, what hell everybody else would catch come Judgment Day.”

PeopleSelfReligionOpinionHellAtheismJudgmentSavedArroganceAlmightyCongratulationsAssuredLoadedHymnsCozyJudgment Day
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“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own... Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy.”

LoveMindPersonsLove IsMistakeGreaterConditionsHealthyEssentialsDiseaseAssumingJealousyJealousImmatureBeing JealousJealousy EnvyJealousy And EnvyLove JealousyJealous And EnvyLove And JealousyJealous PeopleBeing ImmatureI Am JealousMature And ImmatureYour JealousJealous LoveYou Jealous
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“Around the time of the Terran Caesar Augustus, a Martian artist had been composing a work of art. It could have been called a poem, a musical opus, or a philosophical treatise; it was a series of emotions arranged in tragic, logical necessity. Since it could be experienced by a human only in the sense in which a man blind from birth might have a sunset explained to him, it does not matter which category it be assigned.”

MenHumansDoeHas BeensArtMatterMightArtistEmotionBirthPhilosophicalBlindSeriesMusicalSunsetTragicLogicalWorks Of ArtCategoriesCould Have BeenComposingAugustusMartiansAugustus Caesar
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“Of all the nonsense that twists the world, the concept of 'altruism' is the worst. People do what they want to, every time. If it pains them to make a choice - if the choice looks like a 'sacrifice' - you can be sure that it is no nobler than the discomfort caused by greediness... the necessity of deciding between two things you want when you can't have both.”

PeopleIfsWorldWantLooksTwoPainChoicesSacrificeWorstConceptsTwo ThingsNonsenseAltruismTwistsDiscomfortGreediness
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“The ethics of sex is a thorny problem. Each of us is forced to grope for a solution he can live with - in the face of preposterous, unworkable, and evil code of so-called 'Morals.' Most of us know the code is wrong, almost everybody breaks it. But we pay Danegeld by feeling guilty and giving lip service. Willy-nilly, the code rides us, dead and stinking, an albatross around the neck.”

KnowsGivingFeelingsProblemFacesEvilSexPayMoralBreakSolutionsEthicsLipsGuiltyCodeNecksLip ServiceFeeling GuiltyAlbatross
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“Yes, Boss?' Dorcas, the last twenty or thirty years I've been a worthless, no-good parasite.' She yawned again. 'Everybody knows that.' Nevermind the flattery. There comes a time in every man's life when he has to stop being sensible--a time to stand up and be counted--strike a blow for liberty--smite the wicked.' Ummm...' So quit yawning, the time has come.' She glanced down. 'Maybe I had better get dressed.”

KnowsMenYearsLastsLibertyTwentiesBlowStrikesQuittingEvery ManThirtyWickedBossSensibleWorthlessFlatteryThirty YearsParasitesThere Comes A TimeYawningNevermind
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“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

LoveLifePersonsHappinessLove IsMarriageConditionsPositiveEssentialsAnd LoveBelovedNovelistsCrushLost LoveReal LoveBeing HappyOur LoveScifiInsperationalWithout LoveOnly LoveAnniversaryBest LoveImmaturePure LoveHeart LoveTime LoveOne You LoveThose We LoveHappiness And LoveLife And HappinessI Miss YouHappiness And SuccessShort LoveTime And LoveLove Is All You NeedWedding AnniversarySecret To HappinessLove GrowsLittle LoveBest Ever LoveLooking For HappinessHearts And LoveOthers HappinessMature LoveLove Is LifeInspirational RomanceHappiness LovePersons LoveStranger In A Strange LandI Believe In LoveWedding Invitation LoveShort Cute LoveAchieving HappinessMy Own HappinessFlames And LoveShort And Sweet LoveShort Sweet LoveSweet AnniversaryGreat True LoveProfound LoveNeeded LoveFirst AnniversaryDefine Love
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“Consider the black widow spider. It's a timid little beastie, useful and, for my taste, the prettiest of the arachnids, with its shiny, patent-leather finish and its red hourglass trademark. But the poor thing has the fatal misfortune of possessing enormously too much power for its size. So everybody kills it on sight.”

LittlesBlackPoorPowerToo MuchTasteRedSightSizeMisfortunesSpidersLeatherWidowsPossessingPatentsPrettiestTrademarksBlack WidowToo Much PowerHourglass
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“Art is the process of evoking pity and terror, which is not abstract at all but very human. What the self-styled modern artists are doing is a sort of unemotional pseudointellectual masturbation . . . whereas creative art is more like intercourse, in which the artist must seduce -- render emotional -- his audience, each time.”

HumansArtSelfArtistProcessAudienceCreativeModernEmotionalArt IsTerrorPityAbstractIntercourseMasturbationSeducingCreative ArtUnemotional
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“The Universe was a silly place at best...but the least likely explanation for it was the no-explanation of random chance, the conceit that abstract somethings 'just happened' to be atoms that 'just happened' to get together in ways which 'just happened' to look like consistent laws and some configurations 'just happened' to possess self-awareness and that two 'just happened' to be the Man from Mars and a bald-headed old coot with Jubal inside.”

MenWayLooksTwoSelfTogetherLawUniverseChanceHappenedAwarenessSelf AwarenessSillyExplanationAbstractConsistentAtomsMarsConceitGet TogetherConfigurationRandom Chance
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“A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is ... and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be ... more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo see that this lovely young girl is still alive”

LooksStillsYoungUsedArtistGirlForceAliveLovelyUsed To BeSensitivityViewersGreat ArtistOld WomanPretty GirlStranger In A Strange LandArmadillos
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“I see the beauty of Mike's attempt to devise an ideal ethic and applaud his recognition that such must start by junking the present sexual code and starting fresh. Most philosophers haven't the courage for this; they swallow the basics of the present code--monogamy, family pattern, continence, body taboos, conventional restrictions on intercourse, and so forth--then fiddle with details...even such piffle as discussing whether the female breast is an obscene sight! (p.365)”

BodyHavensEthicsFemaleIdealsSightStartingPatternsPhilosopherDetailsRecognitionCodeBreastsConventionalMikeRestrictionTabooIntercourseDiscussingBasicsObsceneFresh StartMonogamyFiddle
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“No matter what I said they insisted on thinking of God as something outside themselves. Something that yearns to take every indolent moron to His breast and comfort him. The notion that the effort has to be their own . . . and that the trouble they are in is all their own doing . . . is one that they can't or won't entertain.”

ThinkingSaidMatterEffortTroubleComfortNo Matter WhatNotionBreastsMoron
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“It's a long story. Want a refill?" "No, let's start the steak. Where's the button?" "Right here." "Well, push it." "Me? You offered to cook." "Ben Caxton, I will lie here and starve before I will get up to push a button six inches from your finger" "As you wish." He pressed the button. "But don't forget who cooked dinner.”

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